Abigail Atkins is a native of the northwest but has spent many years living all over the world. She grew up outside of Vancouver, B.C. where she grew to love the outdoors. She moved to California to attend Azusa Pacific University. While attending university, she had the opportunity to travel to Turkey, Ukraine, China, Costa Rica, and Panama. She discovered her passion for travel while she was in college. After she graduated with her degree in English, she moved to Denver, CO for a short while to pursue a career in library science and to experience the great Rockies. In the summer of 2008, Abby moved to Huangshi, China to begin a two year teaching position at a Chinese middle school where she taught English Language Learner to Chinese middle school students. It was in China that she discovered her passion for teaching. Abby decided that she would like to pursue her masters in teaching and was accepted at Woodring College of Education and moved back “home”, or close enough to home, as Woodring is located in the northwest. While she was finishing her masters in teaching, she got married to her best friend, Josh Atkins. She has been working with St. Paul’s Academy since 2013 teaching English. She continues to explore the outdoors in the beautiful backyard of the Cascade Range with her husband, two daughters, and dog.

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. – E.E. Cummings